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JJ's directing (at least) the first Star Wars sequel for Disney.

Any thoughts? A little curious to see the reactions about this.

I like Abrams a whole lot, going back to Alias, and I'm pretty impressed with his three movies. Super 8 was friggin' great, his Mission Impossible is at least as good as the first one, and for someone like me who's never "got" Trek at all, his reboot was a blast.

I like Abrams. I like Star Wars.

The two mixing though, I'm really not so sure about. Not just 'cause he's already helming the Trek series for Paramount (though I can see a board room full of movie executives being pissed about now), but because his style seems a little off. He's really never done anything with that by-today's-standards-"cheesy", fairytale type of vibe, the clear-cut "good v.s. bad" made-for-everyone old-fashioned & innocent.

A huge part of Star Wars, both the originals and the newer stuff, was always that pulpy 1930s-serial type of thing. Can JJ do that kind of stuff? He might have it in him, but we've never seen it before now.

Still, the guys writing it are amazing, Michael Arndt who did Toy Story 3, and Kasdan who wrote Empire, Jedi, and Raiders. From George's old outlines and ideas from the 70s. And Kathleen fuckin' Kennedy is producing, no more Rick McCallum from the prequels. So the foundations are there.

I just can't help but think that, while JJ obviously has the Spielberg connection too, they might have been better off going with one of the other Lucas/Spielberg alumni, a Joe Johnston or a Robert Zemeckis if he's on his a-game again. Brad Bird would have nailed it too. Someone proven with that very-specific 70s-and-80s Lucas & Spielberg vibe. JJ did it with Super 8, but that was far more Spielberg in there, and it still "looked" very slick and modern.

It'll be interesting to see. Especially since it seems at least Hamill's back, with a possibility of Fisher and Ford.

Everything he's been associated with usually turns out fantastic - especially his directorial stuff. His Star Trek film was also a near perfect reboot - it felt fresh and fun, though it made sure to pay homage to what came before. This will be Star Wars for a new generation, and i'm glad they're going with a fairly youngish guy and he's essentially "the new Spielberg" anyways.

Star Wars has always been my favorite film franchise (well, second to Bond), and i'm super excited to see what they comes up with. I mostly didn't care for the prequels, they felt lifeless and relied too heavily on cgi - i'm hoping aesthetically there is a return of the visual "dirty/lived in" asthetic of the original trilogy which seemed to be ignored by the sequels.

Originally Posted by Tom Gabel

Adrenaline carried one last thought to fruition.
Let this be the end.
Let this be the last song.
Let this be the end.
Let all be forgiven.

I mostly didn't care for the prequels, they felt lifeless and relied too heavily on cgi - i'm hoping aesthetically there is a return of the visual "dirty/lived in" asthetic of the original trilogy which seemed to be ignored by the sequels.

I agree with this if you watch attack of the clones now it looks like a sci fi channel original movie

I was a little upset that he blew up Vulcan in the Star Trek reboot (I suppose that was the fault of the writers), but I am rather optimistic about the upcoming Star Wars film. I mainly only know the events that occur in the existing 6 films, and look forward to seeing what happens outside of that story. I haven't read any of the novels from the expanded universe.

Originally Posted by Jojan

So really, The Offspring is only Ron. The rest of the band left. O_o

Originally Posted by XYlophonetreeZ

For selfish reasons, I hope he's really dead. I really don't want to become known as "That guy who keeps making premature death threads for ethnic-looking dudes."

I have to say that I've been turned off from J.J. Abrams ever since seeing that show Revolution, which is just absolutely horrible. And they filmed most of it in walking distance from where I live, so I was hoping it would be good so I'd have something cool to talk about. Come to think of it, I really hated Super 8 too. Still, if he can reboot a franchise as well as he did with Star Trek then I suppose I'll give him a chance.

I'm more encouraged that Michael Arndt is writing. Sci-Fi will be a different genre for him, but when he's writing you can be sure that there will be excellent character development, which was definitely lacking from the prequels.

I'm more encouraged that Michael Arndt is writing. Sci-Fi will be a different genre for him

Well, he's been doing lectures and screenwriting seminars for years basically all focused on Star Wars and its influence on both him and the "genre" more broadly, so it's pretty clear the guy's pretty immersed in it all. And Kasdan's been quiet for a few years, but hey, he wrote Raiders and Empire and Jedi, he basically gets a pass on anything, ever. He's a guy we need.

As for the Joss thing, I'm kinda-sorta with you there, though, I'd say his "style" is more in line with Star Wars than JJ's is. He's big, black & white good-V.S.-bad to a tee when he wants to be (not all of his material is that way, of course, but he's done it), and has an affinity for the cheese factor. JJ's stuff is a little more, I don't know, slick or something? I hate that word "edgy", but maybe it applies.

With JJ I'm somewhat optimistic, though, as Disney and Kennedy are smart enough not to let that fuckstick Lindelof anywhere near this. If we can keep Kurtzman and Orci from getting their grubby little hands over a draft or two of the script post-Ardnt/Kasdan, we should be good. I'm a little bugged by the almost-certainty of Giacchino doing the score, though. Williams won't be back, as he said the prequels took a lot out of him, and that was a decade (more, really) ago. Giacchino's cool and all, but again it's just the "feel" of his stuff I don't think gels too well.

Still, we dodged a bullet with Snyder. Holy fuck, that would have been infuriating. His take on Superman is shaping up to be rage-worthy.

I dunno. I guess I'm just hoping that Abrams has that ability to "bend" to the material, y'know? Not kind of imprint himself all over it too much, adapt to the tone. Which is I guess why I was hoping for a lesser-known but seriously capable "workhorse" director, someone in-house from Lucas or Amblin like Johnston. Or even Pixar, Bird'd be perfect, though his schedule doesn't allow for him to do it. But yeah, Johnston's worked on the originals, designed half of the "look" of the three movies along with Ralph McQuarrie, and he's basically 80s Spielberg & Lucas in terms of what he does. Captain America fell apart in the third act, but I think that was more the "rushing everything as a commercial and lead-in to The Avengers" thing imposed by Marvel. The first half of that movie had the classic Spielberg & Lucas thing down.

I just wish they'd set some films in the days of the Old Republic. The KOTOR games gave me a passion for that period and basically made me a Star Wars fan. I think setting a new series of films in that time period would act like a reboot without damaging the original films in any way. I would totally be on board with JJ helming that. As it is I am unsure.

At least Star Wars already has a history of blowing up planets. You know, in case he wasn't satisfied with Vulcan.

Big shame that Williams won't be doing the score.

“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.” – Bill Hicks